It’s Never Too Late to Plan Ahead

24 Aug, 2020

ISO 22301 Business Continuity has helped many businesses through the coronavirus pandemic, like our clients Stickee Technology and Healthcare rm.  Whilst we’re already in the midst of a global pandemic, it is never too late to plan ahead for this or any other incident and ISO 22301 will help you achieve this.

Having confidence in your systems

Karl Binder, CMO of Stickee Technology and Magpie Technology recalls: “thanks to ISO 22301, we were already well prepared for remote working.  When it came to switching to working from home we already had everything in place for there to be no disruptions whatsoever.  We were able to start working from home the very next day, with our VPN providing secure access to servers, most people working on laptops and digital communication channels in active use”.

Adam Hamilton, Director of Healthcare rm adds: “by ensuring we had a business continuity plan in place and by carrying out regular testing and audits, we had confidence in our systems.  We followed our plan to the letter and it worked.  We have analysed it and don’t need to make any changes to the current plan”.

So what is ISO 22301 Business Continuity?

An ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System ensures a business is properly assessing its potential risks on a regular basis. This allows your business to be agile and adapt to any situation which poses a disruption to operations. Having a properly laid out plan for the business to follow during a major or minor incident reduces the time it takes to get back to ‘Business as Usual’.  You can find out more about ISO 22301 here.

Looking to the future

Stickee Technology are a creative technology agency that creates enjoyable and immersive software and digital experiences that stick with the audience.  Prior to the pandemic, business growth was good and there was a large pipeline of contracts waiting to be closed.  Karl explains: “since the outbreak, we have had a very productive quarter, with the pipeline coming to fruition and, as a result, are as busy now as we have been in the last five years.  Our summer events projects have all been cancelled so none of our customer facing VR and games at events have gone ahead.  But our data and business intelligence, as well as comparison services, have grown during lockdown. 

We are thankful that our industry and projects feel largely unaffected.  The small number of projects affected by the cancellation of events mad up a very small part of our business and have therefore not been a great miss.  We have plenty of work lined up for the next 12 months”.

Healthcare rm are a healthcare risk management company whose mission is to change how healthcare and employee health is managed globally.  Previously they were predominately office based with only a handful of onsite and remote workers but following the pandemic, have moved all staff to remote working.

Adam comments: “our biggest challenge was ensuring individual internet connections and IT equipment was suitable.  It’s hard to say what the overall picture will be like going forward.  It will change the way we work with more home and flexible working arrangements being a possibility”. 

Words of advice for businesses considering ISO 22301

Karl advises: “it is essential to avoid drops in productivity, to be prepared to switch to remote working, as well as making sure you have processes in place to ensure security is maintained”.

Adam adds: “it’s worth doing and doing it right.  You need everyone on board and bought into why you are doing it.  Then just make sure it fits in with the needs and demands of the business”.